Process of determining the heating capacity of combustibles.



-. Nu. 700,555. Patented May 20, 1902. s. w. FARR.

PROCESS OF DETERMINING THE HEATING CAPACITY OF GOMBUSTIBLES.

(Appiication filed 1m. 24, 1961.\

(No Modl.)

processes and the disadvantages found there-1 LATENT Gen-Ion.

SAMUEL W. PARR, OF URBANA, ILLINOIS.

PROCESS OF DETERMINING THE HEATING CAPACITY OF COM BUSTI BLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 700,555, dated May 20, 1902.

Application filed December 24, 1901. Serial No. 871103. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. PARR, acitizen of the United States, residing at Urbana, in the county of Ohampaign and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Determining the Heating Capacity of Combustibles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method orprocess for determining the heating capacity of heat;

ing-combustibles, such as coal, coke, oils, '&c.

The object of the invention isto provide a process for determining the heating capacity. of combustibles; and it consists in making a complex reaction of chemicals, the funda{ There is not a true combustion inthisime:

proved process, but a complex chemical reaction in which heat is evolved, being in amount. altogether different from the heat of a true combustion, but bearing a; constant ratio toit.

Thus if a is the heat of ordinary combustion and b the heat of reaction with peroxid of so;

dium, then out ::73 :100.

It is therefore the purposeof th is tion to obviate the many objectionsofprior in and to provide a complex chemical reaction the products of which are hot gases, but

solids developing no pressure and occupying less space after the reaction is completed than before it begins, whereby the extraction of the .heat is quicker and the copsequenteq'ualization of temperature is fardesssubject to error,from radiation and the influence of extraneous conditions. h 3

In the drawing the figure is a central vertical section ,of, an apparatus best adapted for carrying out the improved process.

ical-about twenty grams of sodium peroxid- I is placed inthe chamber with the combustible, and the chamber being closed it is shaken to thoroughly mix the two ingredients con tained therein. in the can 3, which contai ns a weighed or measured body of water.

The coversof the The chamber isthen seated vessels 1 and-2 are secured in, place with the hollow stem 7 projecting through them. The

reaction may thenbe started by introducing into the chamber'through the hollow stem a drop or two of Water or by inserting a piece of hot wire, or the wire may be inserted in f contact withthe mixture and heated by a current of electricity. It has been found that the I most simple and convenient manner of starting the reactionis to use a short piece of which is afterward closed, into the mixture.

The reaction thus started continues of itself 7 1 and is completed in a few seconds. The proc- I ess,of reactionlconsists of two simultaneous steps: fi ISI7, the carbon and hydrogen of the combustible (coal) uniting with the oxygen of the chemicals; second, these products again combining with the chemicals to produce still different produets.- The first step corresponds isv entirely different and is purelya chemical neous and'becalled onefreaetion. I

. V 9 to theordiuarycombustion. The second step I Asmall correction-is=necessary forthe hot wire used. For wire weighing fourhundred milligrams and introduced at a cherry-red heat the correction is .015 centigrade. temperature of the waterbeing taken before The roe

and after the reaction and corrected for the I 8o heated wire, dropping it through the stem,

wire, as just indicated, a simple calculation shows the amount of heat evolved by the reaction. Thus, corrected rise in temp. wt. of water X .73 wt. of fuel that is, carbon and hydrogen plus oxygen produces carbonic-acid gas and water. The reaction involved in this process maybe represented thus:

This is carbon and hydrogen plus sodium peroxid, which produces sodium carbonate, sodium hydrate, and sodium oxid, all solids.

Sodium peroxid has other advantages. It is comparatively inexpensive and may be containedin any ordinary glass bottle. The quantity needed in a reaction may be simply measured out--forone-half gram of fuel about ten to twelve grams only are required. Moreover, the material is of such stable nature that for a given amount of combustible the decomposition of the chemical is definite for that amount. Thus there are introduced no indeterminate variables. Certain other reagents may be included which do not affect the general principles involved in the use of sodium peroxid, but which simply intensify the reaction. Some substances as coke, anthracite coal, petroleum, &c.-do not reactso readily and completely as other forms of substances. It has been found that the completeness of reaction is promoted by the addition of certain inorganic snbstances-aspercarbonates, persulfates, perchlorates, and chlorates of potassium, peroxids, as of barium, &'G.; also by definite organic substances-as tartaric, citric, oxalic acids, sugar, starch, (Site. It is evident that these lists of substances may be greatly extended. In practice good results are obtained by the use of potassium persulfate and tartaric acid in the ratio two to one and this mixture used in conjunction with the sodium peroxid in the ratio of one to eight or nine. In this case the added substances possess their own heat of reaction,which must -be separately determined for a given amount used and this heat incrementsubtracted from the total heat indicated. The remaining heat corresponds to the usual reaction with Na O alone, seventy-three one-hundredths thereof being the actual calorific value. For example, one and one-half grams of a mixture of potassium persulfate and tartaric acid (one to one-half) with twelve grams of sodium peroxid will alone interact chemically, yielding a definite amount of heat. The said mixture, as represented by one to one-half, is made up of one part of the persulfat-e to one-half part of the acid, or it may be composed of two parts of the former to one part of the latter. Forsuch a charge using two liters of water in the apparatus, as already described, the correction, including the wire, is .99 centigrade or thereabout, depending upon the purity of the reagents employed, the exact amount of correction being best determined by conducting a separate experiment, using the chemicals, as above noted, without the fuel. This same chemical combination with a combustible added greatly facilitates the reaction with the latter and is especially valuable, therefore, with dense substances, like coke or anthracite and with volatile substances, such as petroleum products. Now, since it has its own definite heat of reaction, this correction factor is substracted from the total heat indicated, leaving the heat of reaction due to the fuel alone reacting with the sodium peroxid. Then of this latter corrected temperature seventythree per cent. is the constant which corresponds to the heat of the ordinary combustion.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described process of determining the heating capacity of combustibles, which consists in mixing sodium peroxid with the combustible in a closed vessel under ordinary atmospheric pressure, placing the vessel in a body of water, igniting the mixture, permitting a reaction of the mixture so that the ultimate products of the reaction will be solid substances, and taking the temperature of the water before and after the reaction.

2. The herein-described process of determining the heating capacity of combustibles, which consists in mixing together in a closed vessel the combustible, sodium peroxid, and other superoxidized substances which yield a maximum nascent oxygen, placing the vessel in a quantity of water, igniting the mixture, permitting a reaction of the mixture from such ignition so that the products thereof will be solid substances, and taking the temperature of the water before and after the reaction. I

3. The process of determining the heating capacity of combustibles, which consists in mixing definite organic substances, as herein described, with sodium peroxid, and the combustible in a closed vessel, placing the vessel in a body of water, igniting the mixture, permitting a reaction of the mixture from such ignition, and taking the temperature of the water before and after the reaction.

4:. The process of determining the heating capacity of combustibles in a closed vessel with definite organic substances, sodium per- I r v oxid, and other snperoxidized substances, In witness whereofI hereunto setmy hand placing the Vessel in a, body of water, ignitin the presence of twowitnesses.

ing the mixture, permittinga reaction therev t. i

of from such ignition so that the products of SAME EL FARR 5 the reaction will be solid substances, and tak- Witnesses:

ing thetemperature of thewater before and J. D. VVALLAOE,

after the reaction. A. O. SINGBUSCH. 

